R means random and.....

D

Dene

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We took possession of our Devlin 27 foot diesel trawler today. Took her on a short run out of Olympia. Learned three R words.

1. R means random in when engaging in reverse. It's an inboard, single screw, and there isn't much turning when reversing. A bowthruster is in our future.

2. R mean Raster. The boat has a Furuno plotter/sounder/radar. The plotter stinks. It uses Raster charts and the distinctions between land/water and depth is awful. To be fair, I haven't learned the Furuno yet to determine if it's a configuration problem. Thank God for my backup laptop with Nobeltec and vector charts. Otherwise, R could have meant Reef.

3. R mean Rain. It's coming. I CAN hardly wait.

-Greg
 
Dene":3a5y7i2r said:
....R means random in when engaging in reverse. It's an inboard, single screw, and there isn't much turning when reversing. A bowthruster is in our future.

....
Click to expand...

Yeah that is a pain with single inboards....you can't easily reverse to starboard with a RH prop, the prop walk when in reverse pulls you to your port. You need to walk your stern out while at the dock to try to reverse to starboard. You should be able to back to port easily though.
 
We just sold our 32' Sundowner Tug -- which was a single screw diesel - I understand the "reverse" issue. We thought we would need a bow thruster when we first purchased the boat, but after a bit of practice -- we found no need for it.

I would suggest taking the boat out in a clear area and practice turning the boat in its "own length" (I think it is called the "back and fill" method). Do this both Port and Starboard. With practice I became very good at this and it helped in tight spots. I found that I could control both the stern and the bow much easier with a "thrust" of the engine going forward then I could in reverse.

It is a challenge -- but it felt awesome the first time I backed the boat into the slip.

Enjoy...
 
If you can fit the boat with an articulating rudder you will find that you just corrected one of those problems! A quick internet search shows an engineering firm in Bayview Wa that makes them. Pretty common, used by Nordic and others!
Mike
 
When running single screw boats in reverse--as noted there is prop walk--torque which swings the stern one way or another, because the water is denser at the bottom of the blade stroke. To counter this, you give a short burst with the engine in foreward and the rudder hard over, to swing the stern away from the way the rudder is turned. This is only a quick burst of power, and you should have little if any foreward motion. As you gain sternway, you will probably pick up some steering effect of the rudder--but if you don't then again use the full over, quick burst to swing the stern.

Do you really want to cut a hole in that beautiful boat?

We have owned mostly single screw boats, and the only one we had a bow thruster in was one similar to what you are selling (The Carver 30 aft cabin, with a single diesel)--that could also be handled without a thruster. We have handled boats up to 62 feet with a single screw--it would have been nice to have a thruster on a few instances, but If I were you, give yourself some time to "learn the boat" You can do fine without the thruster.
 
Y'all raise good points. I'm reminded when I first got the Carver. The twins really intimidated me but eventually I learned to love them.

Yesterday, I was attempting to back out of a finger slip by turning starboard. In hindsight, I need to walk it out if facing that manuever again. Later, out in open water, I did try your swing stern advice and it worked great. Perhaps bowthrusters are not needed, for me or future charterers.

Now about Raster charts. They look completely different from the Vector charts I'm use to. Is that typical or is it the way my Furuno chartplotter is configured (colors, symbols)?

-Greg
 
There is an other option--and that is a stern thruster. Dickson makes a stern thruster (It is normally powered off a gen set, but the hyraulic pump could be run off the main engine. Plus it is set up to use as a "get home" engine. A friend has one, and had to use it to get the boat to anchor when he lost the transmission.

Problem is that it costs $4800 for the thruster and another $1000 or so for the "get home" bracket. You can get one of the trolling motors which fits on trim tabs for a lot less than that, and mount it on the transom, for the occasional thrust--or guidance! 55 lb thrust is about $600 and 80 lb thrust (24 volt) is about $800. Or buy a trolling motor and put it on a get home bracket (for the dinghy motor--and use a remote for it--easy to rig. But then there are the asthetics of that....
 
I don't know about your specific Furuno unit--but most allow a change of colors and detail etc--I suspect when you get into the manual you will find some solutions for that. (Assumption that this is a color plotter--don't believe that Furuno made any Raster which were monochrome.)
 
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